Rosen College Hospitality

mom60 · 10-19-2009, 03:42 PM

Does anyone know much about the Hospitality Management BS. It will be as a transfer student.
Size of program, caliber of education, success of grads in finding good jobs outside of Florida.

Central Florida is on the list due to the program. The school is listed as a Tier 3 school in US News so we have some concerns about the caliber of education. Since most of the general ed requirements will have been completed she would be mainly on the Rosen campus. Also she would need to find housing in the area of Rosen. How is that area for safety?
Other schools on the list- Delaware, Purdue, Boston University.
Thanks

JerseyShoreMom · 10-20-2009, 10:32 AM

My D is an Event Management major, under the Rosen College of Hospitality management. Rosen has beautiful dorms that she should consider. You might want to visit, the Rosen campus has a resort-feel and overlooks the golf course. Hospitality students at Rosen have an array of job opportunities available to them. D was also accepted to Purdue but chose UCF because of their highly rated Hospitality program. But she also wanted to go to UCF because they had the Event Management major, the only public university on the east coast to offer it.

http://www.hospitality.ucf.edu/

TooRealistic · 10-20-2009, 10:53 AM

Mom60

My daughter is a Sr. at Rosen and was able to find internships even in this bad economy. The school has also worked with students who have been having a hard time with the internship requirement (there is a 3 internship requirement). She never moved over to the Rosen area because she likes all the action at the main campus (40 min. away). The kids at Rosen tend to all be working in the field, so that campus is a little quieter, but the dorms (apts) are really sweet. She has found that many of her classes are taught not by professors with only "book" learning, but rather by those who have actually been in the field which she really likes. She is also in the Event Mgmt program, but is currently working a Hilton Disney as a finance person.

JerseyShoreMom: didn't I talk to you last year about UCF? If so, yay for your daughter who is now a knight! Or, yay anyway even if I didn't talk to you!

Lisa

mom60 · 10-20-2009, 12:00 PM

Thank you both. Just the kind of information I am interested in. She will be attending an open house at the end of the month at Rosen. I think she would have to find off campus housing since she has a dog. She started college out of high school but have taken some time off to decide what she wanted to do with her life. During that time she has worked at 2 different hotels in tourist areas on the west coast. She is now sure that she wants to remain in the hospitality field. She has been back at school at a Florida CC for the last year.
JerseyshoreMom- did you visit Purdue or Delaware?

JerseyShoreMom · 10-20-2009, 03:03 PM

We did not visit Purdue or Delaware (I didn't know Delaware had a program). D felt that internships would be plentiful in the Orlando area (being the tourist capital) rather than the Indianapolis area -- or rather West Lafayette (Purdue).

JerseyShoreMom · 10-20-2009, 03:13 PM

TooRealistic: HI! I didn't know your D has spent all 4 years on the main campus! D started in Summer 2009, she has been able to choose an event-related class in Summer, Fall, and Spring 2010. She is hoping she will be able to take all of her hospitality classes on the main campus, she loves it there!

mom60 · 10-20-2009, 03:21 PM

Jerseyshoremom- I think the opportunities for internships is what has had my D dismiss Washington State. What we did recently was look where some of the major chains are recruiting this year. Central Florida, Delaware and Purdue came up on all the lists.
NYU and Boston Univ appeal to my D since she likes the idea of living and working in a large city for a period of time. But both programs don't appear on many of the lists. I don't know if it is due to the fact that the programs are both relatively new or if being in a city they have plenty of local opportunities.
I think my D would not mind leaving Florida.

JerseyShoreMom · 10-20-2009, 03:27 PM

It's up to your D to find where she is happy. My D wanted a degree in Event Management. Very, very few schools offer this. She would have gone to Purdue if not accepted to UCF, but she wouldn't have been happy because Purdue, like Delaware and the others, offers Hospitality Management majors and just brush on topics like Event Management. If your D is interested in Hospitality Management, Purdue is ranked #1 for Hospitality Management (I think it's ranked #1 because it is the oldest), but if you go over to the Purdue forum you will find students are not happy with their program.

Hospitality programs gear towards restaurant management or tourism. You'll find degrees listed as Hospitality and Restaurant Management or Hospitality and Tourism. It's important to find the one that matches perfectly.

TooRealistic · 10-20-2009, 05:13 PM

JerseyShoreMom,

Yep, D has been there for a long time. However, I think that your D will find that many of the upper division courses are only offered at the Rosen Campus. The shuttle, as my daughter puts it, "sucks." My D has been able to "clump" classes together so as not to be driving out there 5 days/week. She has also done some car pooling. The most important thing that we did for her is get her a SunPass for her car (the auto toll thing - it's called an Ipass here in IL) because the fastest way to Rosen is to use the many toll roads. She does sepnd about $5/day on tolls since she is working in the Disney area full time (while attending school full time - how crazy is that?). We actually got one for our car as well so that when we visit her, we can keep up of we both have to drive somewhere.

If anyone has anymore questions - feel free to ask!

GO KNIGHTS!!

mom60 · 10-20-2009, 07:59 PM

Jerseyshoremom- she is interested in hotel management. She is looking into each program. She does not want a program that is geared more to restaurant management. Delaware has a Marriott on campus that the students help run.
As a transfer she will have to apply to quite a few programs. The acceptance rates are not nearly as good as they are for freshmen at most of the schools on her list.
TooRealistic- What is the feel of the Rosen campus? Does it feel like a commuter school? How many students are at Rosen? Is the 45 minute commute due to distance or traffic?

TooRealistic · 10-20-2009, 09:53 PM

mom60, The rosen campus does not have a "campus" feel. The "classrooms" (full tv style show kitchen, corp. sponsers, etc.) are cutting edge, but because so many students are working there is not all that much happening. I know that the rosen dorms had openings after the semester started. On the other hand, students in this major tend to be outgoing, so she will make friends. However, (I am using sooo many qualifiers) my D finds that campus too far from all the cool stuff at main campus so chose to stay living (even though she's not officially "on" campus) at main campus. The housing market is tight by Rosen due to all the "service" jobs nearby and some many hotels.

The commute is due to a combo of traffic and distance. The housing market by main campus is a little easier due to too many houses. D's boyfriend is renting a 3br 2 1/2 bath 8 min from campus 1200ish/month.

Either way, she might feel a little isolated if she ends up in a house alone. If she decides that she's serious, pm me and I will ask my D where the "good" and "safe" places are.

Also, if you have ANY more questions, ask away! I had to try and figure all this stuff out alone and it sucked.

Lisa

mom60 · 10-29-2009, 01:08 PM

Tomorrow is the open house. It will be interesting to hear her opinion. The open house is at the Rosen School so she will only get a feel for that campus.
She will mapquest directions but is the campus easy to find once you are off the highway?

TooRealistic · 10-29-2009, 07:56 PM

Yes, the campus is very east to find. Make sure she brings some change - there are tons of toll roads in the Orlando area - many with no people to make change. Let us know how it goes!

mom60 · 10-29-2009, 08:35 PM

TooRealistic- She is coming from South Florida so she made sure to have cash for the Turnpike. But I don't know if she thought about having coins for the one's that don't have an attendant. Mapquest put her drive at 2 hrs and 50 minutes so she is going to have a lot of driving tomorrow.
I think after tomorrow she should have a much better idea about her list. If she likes and would be interested in attending UCF her list would be fine.

TooRealistic · 10-31-2009, 10:56 PM

Well,

How did it go? Did she find it ok?